World powers coax Iran into extending nuclear talks

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ALMATY, Kazakhstan World powers offered broader concessions than ever to Iran on Wednesday, hoping to keep alive the sporadic diplomatic effort to rein in its nuclear program and prevent it from building an atomic weapon.

The offer was hailed by Saeed Jalili, Iran's top official at diplomatic talks in Kazakhstan, who said it represented a “turning point” by world powers after years of delicate negotiations that nearly dissolved last June.

The proposal would allow Iran to keep a limited amount of highly enriched uranium, stops short of demanding full shutdown of an underground nuclear facility, and offers to lift some trade sanctions that have hurt Iran's economy.

A senior U.S. official said that crippling sanctions on Iran's oil and financial industries would remain as negotiations continue.

The proposal “was more realistic than before and had tried to get closer to the Iranian viewpoint in some cases,” Jalili said after two days of talks. “We consider this positive, although there is a long distance to reach the suitable point.”

British Foreign Minister William Hague called the talks useful and said the proposal aimed “to build confidence on both sides and move negotiations forward.”

Iran maintains it has the right under international law to enrich uranium to 20 percent – a level that can quickly be boosted for in nuclear warheads. Tehran says it needs that level for reactor fuel and medical isotopes. U.N. nuclear inspectors last week said Iran has begun to upgrade the program at its main uranium enrichment site.

“Whatever we need, we will of course pursue that – whether it is 5 percent or 20 percent,” Jalili said. “It is important to us to have the 20 percent.”

That remains a red line for negotiators from the U.S., China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany, who put a demand at the heart of their offer that Iran end any uranium enrichment that nears or reaches 20 percent.

“What we've asked ... is rather extensive and the constraints that we have suggested are quite fulsome,” the U.S. official said. “So I would not characterize it as a softening of position. …The overall effect of it is quite substantial.”

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